Cognitive: Students will understand an analogy between the desire to drive a car prematurely and giving in to sexual desire prematurely. They will understand that practicing certain things in life requires maturity, good judgment, and qualifications. Affective: Students will feel that it makes sense to postpone some things they are not ready for. They will experience Sean’s crash through the text and the picture and take it as a warning. Behavioral: Students will match qualifications with privileges.
Ask for a student volunteer to recount the story and commentary of “The Drive.”
Note that the story is about a boy giving in to the desire to drive a car before he was ready and suffering the result of his lack of self-control. The commentary compares such premature desires to sexual desire. Sexual desire is so strong, it is often called a “drive.” It pushes people toward something.
Point out that we are physically capable of driving a car before we have the training, skills, good judgment, and maturity to be good drivers. One driving instructor estimated that an eight-year-old could master the physical skills of driving, providing he or she was tall enough to reach the pedals. Certainly most thirteen-year-olds are tall enough to reach the pedals and can master the physical skills of turning the car on and off, using the brake, turning the wheel, putting the car in reverse, etcetera. Yet most countries, states, and provinces do not allow young teenagers to drive because their mental and emotional abilities are not developed enough to handle driving safely.
Make the point that we are also physically capable of having sex and even of having babies before we have the training, skills, good judgment, and maturity to be good partners and parents. Teenagers’ mental and emotional abilities are not developed enough to handle sexuality safely. Like Sean, they are better off waiting instead of getting into some kind of costly and painful accident—like a disease, pregnancy, or the mental and emotional breakdown that comes from uncommitted sexual relationships.
Allow the students some time to write the Questions for Reflection; then go over each question with them as a class, soliciting their answers, opinions, questions, or thoughts.
Class Session 2
Briefly remind the students of the story and commentary of “The Drive.”
Make the observation that people need certain qualifications in order to perform certain tasks. For instance, if someone wants to drive, he or she needs to have a driver’s license. A doctor needs a medical license. A lawyer needs a legal license. To have sex, people need a marriage license. To do otherwise is to be as unsafe as letting a doctor who does not have a medical license operate on you and prescribe medicines for you!
Ask students to look at and do the Exercise: “Matching” about qualifications needed for certain privileges in life. When they are finished, go over the answers with them, which are provided for your convenience, but which do not appear in the student book.
When students are finished with the matching exercise, go over the answers with them, naming the joyful event and asking them to give their answers. Affirm correct answers; explain why others are incorrect.
Explain that it is natural for young people to want to try things out and to test their abilities. However, there are times when teenagers do well to listen to wise elders, especially in big things like driving a car prematurely or having sex—both of which can have lifelong consequences.
Remind them that a few class sessions ago, you asked them how many of them played with matches as children. (A surprising number of children do.) Mention that, in some classes, teenagers admit that they set fire to their parents’ rug, or they burned their own hands. Others manage to play with this dangerous thing without getting hurt—but they could get hurt. One boy burned down his whole house, and his family had to move. They lost all their clothes and furniture.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have listened to their parents and elders who told them not to play with matches?
Nevertheless, make the point that most burns heal, and clothing and furniture can be replaced. Virginity can never be replaced once it is lost. A pregnancy cannot be taken back. Some sexual diseases are fatal. Sexual desire is one of the strongest desires in the world, but it also has some of the most long-lasting consequences when a person does not control it and wait until he or she is qualified through marriage to have it.
Ask students to do the Reflection Exercise: “Strong Desire.”
Lesson Objectives
Cognitive: Students will understand an analogy between the desire to drive a car prematurely and giving in to sexual desire prematurely. They will understand that practicing certain things in life requires maturity, good judgment, and qualifications.
Affective: Students will feel that it makes sense to postpone some things they are not ready for. They will experience Sean’s crash through the text and the picture and take it as a warning.
Behavioral: Students will match qualifications with privileges.
Ask for a student volunteer to recount the story and commentary of “The Drive.”
Note that the story is about a boy giving in to the desire to drive a car before he was ready and suffering the result of his lack of self-control. The commentary compares such premature desires to sexual desire. Sexual desire is so strong, it is often called a “drive.” It pushes people toward something.
Point out that we are physically capable of driving a car before we have the training, skills, good judgment, and maturity to be good drivers. One driving instructor estimated that an eight-year-old could master the physical skills of driving, providing he or she was tall enough to reach the pedals. Certainly most thirteen-year-olds are tall enough to reach the pedals and can master the physical skills of turning the car on and off, using the brake, turning the wheel, putting the car in reverse, etcetera. Yet most countries, states, and provinces do not allow young teenagers to drive because their mental and emotional abilities are not developed enough to handle driving safely.
Make the point that we are also physically capable of having sex and even of having babies before we have the training, skills, good judgment, and maturity to be good partners and parents. Teenagers’ mental and emotional abilities are not developed enough to handle sexuality safely. Like Sean, they are better off waiting instead of getting into some kind of costly and painful accident—like a disease, pregnancy, or the mental and emotional breakdown that comes from uncommitted sexual relationships.
Allow the students some time to write the Questions for Reflection; then go over each question with them as a class, soliciting their answers, opinions, questions, or thoughts.
Class Session 2
Briefly remind the students of the story and commentary of “The Drive.”
Make the observation that people need certain qualifications in order to perform certain tasks. For instance, if someone wants to drive, he or she needs to have a driver’s license. A doctor needs a medical license. A lawyer needs a legal license. To have sex, people need a marriage license. To do otherwise is to be as unsafe as letting a doctor who does not have a medical license operate on you and prescribe medicines for you!
Ask students to look at and do the Exercise: “Matching” about qualifications needed for certain privileges in life. When they are finished, go over the answers with them, which are provided for your convenience, but which do not appear in the student book.
When students are finished with the matching exercise, go over the answers with them, naming the joyful event and asking them to give their answers. Affirm correct answers; explain why others are incorrect.
Explain that it is natural for young people to want to try things out and to test their abilities. However, there are times when teenagers do well to listen to wise elders, especially in big things like driving a car prematurely or having sex—both of which can have lifelong consequences.
Remind them that a few class sessions ago, you asked them how many of them played with matches as children. (A surprising number of children do.) Mention that, in some classes, teenagers admit that they set fire to their parents’ rug, or they burned their own hands. Others manage to play with this dangerous thing without getting hurt—but they could get hurt. One boy burned down his whole house, and his family had to move. They lost all their clothes and furniture.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have listened to their parents and elders who told them not to play with matches?
Nevertheless, make the point that most burns heal, and clothing and furniture can be replaced. Virginity can never be replaced once it is lost. A pregnancy cannot be taken back. Some sexual diseases are fatal. Sexual desire is one of the strongest desires in the world, but it also has some of the most long-lasting consequences when a person does not control it and wait until he or she is qualified through marriage to have it.
Ask students to do the Reflection Exercise: “Strong Desire.”